Boris Johnson must bring forward a comprehensive plan to save retail jobs given more than 200,000 have been lost this year, Labour has urged.
Keir Starmer warned the collapse of the Arcadia Group and Debenhams in recent days threatens to “rip the heart out” of many high streets across the country.
Mr Johnson confirmed Business Secretary Alok Sharma has written to the Insolvency Service asking for it to examine the conduct of Arcadia’s directors, and defended the Government’s action to protect jobs.
Speaking in the Commons, Labour leader Sir Keir said of these developments: “That’s put 25,000 jobs at risk and caused huge anxiety to many families at the worst possible time and threatens to rip the heart out of many high streets in our towns and cities.
“So can the Prime Minister tell the House what is he going to do now to protect the jobs and the pensions of all those affected by these closures?”
Mr Johnson replied: “We’re looking at what we can do to protect all the jobs that have been lost across the country and (Mr Sharma) has written to the Insolvency Service to look at the conduct of the Arcadia directors.
“We will be doing everything we can to restore the high streets of this country with our £1 billion high streets fund and the levelling up fund.”
Mr Johnson added: “Over 200,000 retail jobs have been lost this year. That’s 200,000 individuals and their families, 20,000 stores have been closed on our high street and that’s before the latest restrictions.
“Now I suspect if we’d seen that scale of job losses in any other sector, there would have been much greater action already.
“So I urge the Prime Minister to take this seriously, don’t deflect, as well as providing emergency support, will the Prime Minister work with us, with the trade unions and the sector to finally bring forward a comprehensive plan to save retail jobs and to provide the sector with the much greater support it needs through this crisis?”
Mr Johnson replied: “We’re of course supporting every job we possibly can, as well as supporting every life and livelihood with a £200 billion programme.”
Business Secretary Alok Sharma has written to the Insolvency Service to examine the conduct of Arcadia’s directors, according to Boris Johnson.
Some 13,000 staff at Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group face an anxious wait following the business collapsing into administration.
And Debenhams, which is already in administration, said it would start a liquidation process after JD Sports confirmed it had pulled out of a possible rescue. The department store has around 12,000 staff.
Arcadia’s brands, which includes Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton, has hired Deloitte to handle the next steps after the pandemic “severely impacted” upon sales across its brands.
Many of Arcadia’s staff worked at its brands’ concessions in Debenhams, which had hoped for a rescue.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said yesterday that the Government “stands ready” to help workers affected by job losses at Arcadia and Debenhams.
Arcadia, which runs 444 stores in the UK and 22 overseas, said 9,294 employees are currently on furlough.
No redundancies have been announced as a result of the appointment and stores will continue to trade, the administrators said, with many due to reopen on Wednesday when England’s lockdown is lifted.
Ian Grabiner, chief executive of Arcadia, said: “This is an incredibly sad day for all of our colleagues as well as our suppliers and our many other stakeholders.
“The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the forced closure of our stores for prolonged periods, has severely impacted on trading across all of our brands.
“Throughout this immensely challenging time our priority has been to protect jobs and preserve the financial stability of the group in the hope that we could ride out the pandemic and come out fighting on the other side.
“Ultimately, however, in the face of the most difficult trading conditions we have ever experienced, the obstacles we encountered were far too severe.”
Retail trade union Usdaw has said it is seeking urgent meetings with Arcadia’s administrators in a bid to preserve jobs.
Dave Gill, Usdaw national officer, said: “Now that Arcadia is in administration, it is crucial that the voice of staff is heard over the future of the business and that is best done through their trade union.
“We are seeking urgent meetings and need assurances on what efforts are being made to save jobs, the plan for stores to continue trading and the funding of the pension scheme.
“In the meantime, we are providing our members with the support and advice they need at this very difficult time.”